A New Adventure
by Ari141
Summary: What will the future hold for Humphrey and Kate? What will they do after their marriage?
1. The Start of Something

**I just felt like doing this fanfic for fun. Don't judge me. By the way, this is going on right after the last scene of the movie.**

"So, where should we go next?" Humphrey asked Kate.

"I don't know. Why don't we just jump on the train and go?"

"Sounds good to me," Humphrey said.

"You're already leaving?" Eve asked.

"Yeah, mom. Why shouldn't we?" Kate asked.

"Who will be in charge?" she asked them.

"Garth and Lilly will look after the pack, Mom," Kate said to her.

"Just be careful you two," Eve told them. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"We'll be safe. Remember, we've already gotten out of plenty of tight spots," Humphrey assured her.

Humphrey and Kate ran to the end of the valley and jumped onto the train that was passing by.

"Be safe!" Eve called after them.

They jumped into an open car with just seconds to spare.

"Well, it looks like you won't be a lone adventurer after all. I'm with you now," Kate said.

"I'm glad. I wasn't feeling too happy about leaving you behind. I'm happy we're together," Humphrey said.

The train wound on through the night, occasionally whistling at crossings. Kate and Humphrey lay together, sleeping peacefully.

The next morning, the air was cool and crisp. Kate woke up and looked out the open door of the train car to see meadows full of wildflowers whisking by. She sighed and rolled over to go back to sleep. A little while later, Humphrey woke up. He got up and stretched. Kate woke back up and walked over to him. They both sat looking out over the horizon, wondering where the train could be taking them.

At noon, the train stopped in a little town just north of the Canada-U.S. border. Kate and Humphrey jumped off the train and walked towards the edge of town, looking for something to eat. They walked past several stores that were closed. Finally they found a small diner that was just opening up for lunch. They went to the back of the restaurant, where they smelled the delicious aromas of bacon and sausage. After nosing around, they found the meat in a bowl that was pushed over into a corner. They had just started eating when they heard a gruff voice behind them.

"Who are you and why are you eating my food?" The voice asked. "Turn around and let me see you."

Kate and Humphrey turned around to see a massive German shepherd glaring angrily down at them.

"Oh, this is your food?" Humphrey asked nervously. "Sorry. We didn't know. We haven't eaten in a while."

"Well, go find your own food. I can't have you eatin' all my food. Go on, get!" The dog said.

"Now listen here. We can eat what we want when we want. And we're not going to let some dumb mutt shoo us away like pups. We are WOLVES! We can do what we want to. Now why don't you go along and find some other food, because we aren't about to let you run us off!" Kate roared, backing the dog up against the wall. "You aren't going to get any of this, because it's ours. You. Aren't. Allowed. Do you understand?"

The dog whimpered an affirmative, and then ran off with his tail between his legs.

"Wow, Kate. I knew you were an alpha, but dang. That was impressive."

"It was nothing. At least we can eat now," Kate responded.

Both wolves dug in to the meat, tearing it apart quickly and swallowing some pieces whole.

"It tastes kind of funny. Tastes like something got burned," Humphrey said with his mouth full.

"It's those crazy humans. They burn their meat before they eat it. Don't complain. This might be all that we get for a while," Kate said.

When both of them had finished their meal, they licked each other's faces.

"Thanks for standing up to that dog. I don't know what I would do without you," Humphrey said.

"I know exactly what you would do. You would hang out with your friends and try to get everyone to have fun," Kate said. "You would make sure that everyone was happy. You know, we should probably find a place to sleep tonight."

"We could always sleep in a train car," Humphrey said. "We should keep heading south. I hear there's some pretty good land down there."

"Not a bad idea. But where do we get on the train. The one we were on already left."

"They come every few hours. We'll just hop on whichever one is going south."

They walked back to the train station and sat down to wait for the next train. Kate laid her head on Humphrey's shoulder. "All I know is that wherever we go, I'll be happy as long as I am with you." After this remark, she quickly fell asleep.

It was a few hours before the train came. The blast of the whistle woke both Kate and Humphrey from their slumber. They waited until there was no one looking, and then jumped into an open car. A few minutes later the train pulled out of the little town. Kate and Humphrey looked out of the car and saw the dog that they had run off watching them from the platform of the station. Kate growled at him as they passed.

The train meandered along through the countryside, occasionally stopping at small towns here and there. Humphrey looked out over the horizon, wondering what was going to happen next.


	2. Making Tracks

**Thanks to the first reviewers. Everyone else, follow in their footsteps.** **Last we saw, Kate and Humphrey were on a train heading south.**

The next morning, Kate and Humphrey woke up to find that they were south of the Canadian border. They were in a train depot with trains roaring past every few seconds. Their car was unhooked from the train and they were sitting still.

"Where are we?" Kate yawned sleepily.

"Train yard. We should probably get out of here before someone notices us," Humphrey answered.

"How? These trains are going too fast."

"We'll just have to run for it. I highly doubt that they are going to stop coming through here."

Humphrey jumped out of the train car and walked over to the tracks that the other trains were using.

"Come on Kate! It'll be safer if we cross together."

Kate hesitated. "Are you sure?" she asked him.

"I'm positive. Plus, how many situations have I gotten us out of? Do you really think I would let you down?"

"Ok, ok. You're right. Let's go."

Kate jumped down after him. They waited for a train to come, then bounded across the tracks.

"One down, probably ten left to go."

"Way to be optimistic, Humphrey," she said sarcastically.

They came to the next track and ran across it without a problem. The third track looked clear, so they started across it a little more slowly. By the time they came to the last track, they were pretty relaxed. They looked both ways then started across. Then they heard the whistle. Kate looked to the right to see a massive diesel engine running straight for her. Humphrey was already across. Kate stood there frozen in fear, not sure what to do. Humphrey dove after her. He shoved her out of the way just in time to avoid the train. Both of them were panting hard after this little adventure. Kate flopped down on the grass beside the train yard.

"Thanks… for saving… me," she panted.

"It's repayment for running off the dog yesterday."

Kate laughed. "That was pretty funny wasn't it?"

They both lay in the grass, watching the clouds race past.

A few hours later, Humphrey woke with a start. A big rain drop had fallen and hit him on the nose. He looked up to see dark clouds filling the sky and blocking out all sunlight. He woke Kate with a nudge.

"We should probably go find shelter before it starts raining any harder!" Kate shouted over the wind, which had picked up to a considerable speed.

"Good idea. Our best bet would be in the woods over there!" he shouted back.

They pelted towards the woods at full speed, dodging the individual rain drops that were beginning to fall faster and faster. They got under the trees just as the skies opened up and dumped the water that it had been holding for so long. Kate and Humphrey found a small cave and huddled up inside it. They had avoided the worst of the storm, but they were still soaking wet. They lay in the cave and licked each other dry then started to talk.

"This has been an interesting first day. I wonder where we are," Kate started.

"It's certainly warmer than Jasper. I could learn to like it here."

"But we need to keep exploring. There's no telling what else we haven't seen. Plus, if we were to settle down here, we would need to make sure that there was sufficient food and water supplies."

"True. Still, it is nice here."

They lay together in the cave, talking about the future until, finally, they fell asleep.

The next morning, they woke up to find that the clouds had left and it was a bright and sunny day. They set off early, hoping to avoid the worst of the heat. The train had taken them far enough below the border that it was starting to be oppressively hot during the daytime. They stayed under the trees, avoiding open areas when at all possible. About midmorning, they came upon a herd of moose that was grazing on the soft grass that had just recently started growing again. Kate separated a young bull from the rest of the herd and ran him into the woods. Together, she and Humphrey dragged down the bull about two hours after they had first spotted the herd. Then, gorged with their kill, they set off again.

About three hours later, the crested a hill and saw another small town nestled in the valley below. They started to skirt around it when Humphrey heard a noise. It sounded like someone arguing. He motioned to Kate.

"We should probably go check it out. Those voices sound familiar, but I'm not sure from where," Humphrey said.

"They do sound familiar."

Kate and Humphrey walked towards the town and found a small pasture with two birds in it.

"MARCEL! PADDY!" Kate yelled.

She rushed up to the two and tackled them. Humphrey was right behind her.

"What are you doing down here? I thought that you were still in Jasper," she exclaimed.

"We decided to come play some golf where it was a bit warmer. Alas, it is a tad too warm," Marcel said to her.

"It really is too warm. Being English, I am used to cooler weather, not this blasted heat," Paddy told them.

"So how is the pack?" Humphrey asked.

"Yes, how are they?" Kate echoed.

"Ok, last we saw. The caribou were just starting to come back," Marcel answered.

"I don't know why we are so worried. We only left them four days ago," Humphrey laughed.

"How are Lilly and Garth managing?" Kate asked.

"They are doing well. Lilly dragged down her first caribou…what was it?…two days ago."

"Well, if you see them again before we do, tell them congratulations."

"We will. And oh, by the way, Tony's back is giving him some more trouble," Paddy told them.

"That's not good. He needs to be healthy to help lead the pack, especially since the two joined together," Kate growled.

"Well, I'm sure he'll be fine," Marcel said. "Why don't we go find a nice place to talk? It is certainly too hot to stay out here and talk."

The four trooped to the woods and sat down under a tree. It having only been four days, there was not much to talk about. But they talked for a long while. Marcel gave Kate and Humphrey directions to get to Colorado. They said their goodbyes, and then Kate and Humphrey walked south once more.

**I'm getting great readership income. Please, keep reviewing.**


	3. Deja Vu and Caribou

**Last we saw, Kate and Humphrey had just met up with Marcel and Paddy. Sorry it's taken me so long to get this out. I had a project for school. Enjoy! **

Kate and Humphrey walked through the forest, peacefully watching the sun dapple the ground around their feet. They watched as the squirrels ran up and down the trees, chattering noisily as they went.

"I wonder how they're all doing right now," Kate said.

"I don't know. What I do know is that I'm hungry," Humphrey responded.

They walked through the woods until they came to a truck stop. It looked kind of familiar.

"Wait a second. Is this the truck stop that we nearly got killed at?" Kate asked nervously.

"Looks like it. There's the hole in the fence," Humphrey pointed at the fence.

The pair snuck around the truck stop until they arrived at the hole in the fence.

"Should we go in?" Humphrey asked.

"I don't see anyone around. Maybe we can find some food. Just NO cupcakes," Kate told him.

They snuck into the compound and found the trashcans. There were two cupcakes in a wrapper lying by the trashcan.

"Come on, Kate. We can both have one. Please?" Humphrey whined.

"NO!" she said sternly. "Let's go. There isn't any good food around here."

They left the truck stop and kept walked down the road towards the river. They followed the river bank for several miles until they came to a waterfall. Kate led Humphrey down the slippery rocks, both of them occasionally slipping on a mossy boulder. At the bottom of the falls, they found a small stream that split off from the main current. They followed the new stream another couple of miles and found themselves at a small pool in the middle of the forest. Kate spotted a small herd of caribou drinking from the pool. She nudged Humphrey and pointed over to the herd. On the edge of the group was an old caribou. The fur on its body was gray and it was walking with a pronounced limp. Humphrey proceeded to try and cut the caribou out of the group. All he succeeded in doing was annoying the herd and making it move farther downstream.

Kate tried next. She managed to guide the old caribou over towards the edge of the pool. Humphrey was hiding in the reeds, waiting to jump when Kate gave the signal. Kate lifted her tail, and they both jumped in unison. Humphrey landed on the caribou's back and bit down into the thin hide. Kate slashed at the caribou's neck in passing, and then landed on a rock in the stream. Humphrey worked his way up to the neck of the caribou and bit down on the spine. The caribou jerked, throwing Humphrey from its back and into the pool. Kate jumped again, slashing higher on the caribou's neck. Blood ran down, matting the fur and causing the ground to become muddy. Humphrey, soaking wet and embarrassed, sprang back onto the caribou's back and bit down as hard as he could on the point where the spinal cord met the skull. The caribou went limp and sank to the ground, an expression of surprise and pain frozen on its face.

Kate and Humphrey dragged the carcass towards an overhang made by some rocks and a fallen tree. Kate, being the Alpha, bit into the ribs of the carcass and proceeded to eat. She grinned at Humphrey.

"I haven't had caribou this good since before the famine!" she exclaimed.

"Neither have I," he said, with his mouth full of the meat. "This is good."

"Congratulations on your first successful kill," Kate said to him.

"It almost wasn't successful. I got thrown into the water."

"So what. At least you didn't get thrown into a rock."

"True."

"And you landed the killing blow. It was all quite impressive, especially since you've never hunted before."

Both of them grinned, small bits of meat stuck between their teeth and blood staining the fur around their mouths.

"My, you do look ferocious!" Kate giggled.

"So do you."

Kate licked Humphrey's face and started to groom him. He returned the favor.

"I'm just glad that we finally got some food. I was way too hungry," Humphrey confessed.

"I wouldn't have known. You never complained."

"I didn't want to be whiny on our trip together."

"Humphrey, when have you ever been whiny? You've always been fun loving and care free."

"Yeah, I guess. Well, I suppose we should find some place to sleep."

"Why not right here. Seems like as good a place as any," Kate said, cuddling up against Humphrey.

"Ok," he muttered sleepily. He lay his chin on her head and quickly fell asleep.

**Thanks for reading. There will be more action in later chapters, so don't worry. Please Review!**


	4. Intruders

**Sorry it's taking me so long to get these out. I'm alternating writing two stories. Anyway, read and enjoy! P.S. REVIEW!**

Humphrey woke up the next morning with mist clinging to his fur. Kate was not there. He sat up and looked around frantically, then realized she was outside at the caribou carcass.

"Mmmh. Morning," she said through a mouthful of caribou.

"Hey. What are you doing up so early? You should still be asleep."

"I got hungry. We need to fill up so that we can keep traveling.

Humphrey agreed and dug in hungrily. When they had both eaten their fill, they followed the stream a little further, then turned off and went through the woods. After traveling for a couple of hours, they came upon a busy road.

"Ugh," Humphrey groaned. "I'm tired of having to cross stuff."

"I agree. Let's look for another place to cross."

They followed the road until they came to a small stream. The stream ran through a tunnel under the road.

"This is as good a crossing as any," Kate commented. "Let's go."

They stepped into the dank, gloomy tunnel. Everything was made of metal. The water had a metallic taste. The two wolves could see the light at the end of the tunnel. They ran towards it, slipping and sliding on the wet metal. Rust fell from the ceiling as the cars above roared past. They came out on the other side panting and covered with rust. Humphrey continued right out of the tunnel and into a pool below. The water in the pool was not clean, but it did wash the rust out of his fur.

"Kate, come in. The water feels great, but I wouldn't drink it."

"Hold on a second. I smell something."

Kate sniffed around the reeds and bushes that edged the pool. She sniffed the wall of the road and drew back.

"This isn't good," she muttered to herself. To Humphrey she added, "Come on, we have to move. This is another pack's territory. We'll walk through the creek to hide our smell."

She slid down the slope and into the pool. After rinsing her fur out, she led Humphrey through the creek. Unfortunately, it ended in another pool only a few hundred yards later. They stepped out of the water and kept traveling, ducking into the bushes every time they heard a suspicious noise. Then they heard voices.

"I swear I heard something over here. And Rowel smelled something over at the rust pool," said a voice

"What does it matter? You two couldn't smell an intruder if their butt was in your face," responded a second voice.

Humphrey started giggling. Kate covered his mouth with her paw.

"Wait! What was that?" the second voice asked.

"Well it couldn't be an intruder," the first said sarcastically. "Otherwise the 'Great and Powerful Stalker' would have found them."

"Shut up, Twister. You have no room to talk."

"Sorry, Buck, but neither do you."

Buck sniffed around again. "There is definitely a trail running through here."

Twister sniffed the spot Buck had sniffed. "I think it goes this way," he said, pointing to the bush Kate and Humphrey were hiding in. They walked closer. "Look, Buck, there's something in that bush!"

Buck howled. A few moments later two other wolves walked into the clearing.

"Rowel, Bristle. We appear to have intruders. At least one, maybe more. They're hiding in that bush. Why don't we escort them to the camp and see what the leader wants us to do with them," Buck said.

The four wolves surrounded the bush. "Come out peacefully and we won't hurt you. Struggle and we will have to resort to more violent means," Twister said.

Kate and Humphrey crawled out of the bushes, Humphrey with his tail between his legs, Kate with her tail held high and chin up.

"Who are you and what are you doing in our territory," Buck growled. He stepped forward menacingly. Each of the new wolves was two or three times the size of Kate and Humphrey.

"We're just passing through. We mean no trouble. We just need to get to the other side of your territory," Kate said with the confidence of an alpha.

"Well aren't we all high and mighty. Last time I checked, you were in _our_ territory without _our_ permission. So back off," Rowel said angrily. "We could just kill you. You're on our territory so we could anything we wanted to with you."

Humphrey spoke up. "Come on guys. We're all wolves. So what does it matter that we're passing through. As long as we're not hunting your food or scaring away game, what's the problem?"

"Shut up, Omega!" Bristle snapped.

"No, no. He has a point," said a voice. All six wolves turned to see a powerful alpha wolf that exuded power walking into the clearing. "However, that does not change the fact that you are in our territory without permission."

"I'm sorry. May we continue through your territory?" Kate asked, gritting her teeth.

"That's better. You must come to our camp for the night so that we can see that you mean no harm. Tomorrow morning two of my wolves will escort you out of our territory. You four surround these two and escort them to the camp."

The wolves did as they were told and led Kate and Humphrey through the forest towards their camp. They crossed several streams and circled around boulders that rose like spires into the foliage. When they finally arrived at the camp, Kate and Humphrey were escorted down to a small cave in the side of a hill.

"Stay in here," Buck instructed them.

Kate and Humphrey sat down in the back of the cave reluctantly

"This is going to be a long night," Kate commented.

**Thanks for reading. Please review.**


	5. Reluctant Help

**Finally finished the tenth chapter of my other story. Now I can write this one. Thanks to my loyal readers. Please review.**

Kate and Humphrey woke to find that a small piece of undesirable meat had been slid into their cave. It looked to part of a squirrel that had been left out for a few days.

"I don't think we'll eat that," Kate said.

They waited for a few hours. They could see just past the guard. The camp was a savage place. Wolves fought over the smallest portions of meat. Each was about four times Kate's size, but all of them were deathly skinny. Fate had not been kind to this pack. Kate tossed the squirrel bit out to the pack.

"We ate before we entered your territory," she told them.

"What was there to eat? There isn't any good food for miles around this territory," Rowel snarled.

"About ten miles upstream there was a herd of caribou. We took down an old bull," Humphrey responded.

"In that case, we won't let you leave for a bit longer," the powerful alpha said as he walked up. "By the way, I didn't properly introduce myself. I am Savage." Then he walked away towards the pitiful pile of squirrels that lay in one corner of the camp.

"You two were lucky then," Rowel continued where they had left off. "There hasn't been a herd of caribou near here that we've seen in I couldn't tell you when." Rowel started warming up to them. "Obviously you two are good hunters. I might be able to persuade the boss to let you go if you can hunt down some more caribou for us."

"I'm not a good hunter…" Humphrey started to protest. Kate clamped his mouth shut.

"Sure. Sounds good. Will we have any help?" she asked.

"I'm pretty sure Buck and Twister don't have anything to do. I'll see if they can help you."

"Good. Is it ok if we head back the way we came? The caribou might still be there."

"Sounds good. We will send you out in a few minutes."

Rowel called over to Buck. "Hey! Are you and Twister up for some hunting?"

"What is there to hunt?" Buck growled viciously.

"The newcomers are going to lead you to the location of the caribou herd they saw. It's only been a day since they were there."

"They had better lead us to them, and make sure we get one. I don't want to waste my time hunting and not get anything out of it."

Buck and Twister led Kate and Humphrey out of the camp and back across the territory to the rust pool. Kate scrabbled up the bank to the rusty drainage pipe and slid through. Humphrey came after her. Buck and Twister had no trouble getting to the pipe, but getting through it was another matter. Both of them had to crouch down and crawl along the pipe. Their spines rubbed against the top, and rust rubbed off into their fur. When they finally got to the other end of the pipe, they gratefully soaked their fur in the pool and rinsed off. Kate and Humphrey were already waiting for them on the bank when they were done.

The hunting party walked back towards the pool that they had killed the caribou at. When they arrived, they could just see the antlers of the caribou poking up from the grass of the field. Kate signaled for the others to wait. She climbed to the top of a rock that jutted into the clearing. After looking around for a few seconds, she jumped back down and slipped over to where the rest of the hunting party was.

"There is an old she and her fawn lying on the other side of the clearing. We can take them both if we skirt the clearing quietly."

The others agreed. One by one they slinked around clearing, hiding behind boulders and trees. When they were all in position, Kate gave the signal. All four wolves rushed in quietly. Twister went straight for the she's throat and ripped it out. Kate quickly nipped the back of the fawn's neck and it went limp. All this happened in only a few seconds. Immediately the rest of the herd was up and on its feet. Buck sat down and howled, signaling the rest of his pack that they had made a kill. A few minutes later Savage entered the clearing, followed by the rest of pack. When they saw the rest of the caribou that had not been killed, they charged. Several more went down before the rest got up enough speed to outrun the ravenous wolves.

A feast ensued. By the time the pack was finished, there were only pieces of bones left. All counted, seven caribou had been killed. Kate and Humphrey were astonished. Savage came over to them after everyone had finished eating.

"Thank you for helping us. I guess we were wrong about you. Even though we were hostile towards you and your mate, you still were willing help us. For that you have our gratitude. When you are ready, Buck and I will escort you out of the territory. However, you two are welcome back here any time you want," he said to them.

"Yes, thank you," said another wolf, slightly smaller than Savage, but equally ferocious looking. "By the way, I am Severity."

Kate dipped her head in respect. "Thank you for allowing us to help you. Now, Savage, would you be so kind as to lead us to the other end of your territory. We are trying to head south."

"As you wish."

Buck and Savage fell into step on either side of the pair. Together they walked several miles to the other end of the territory. The border was another stream, this one not nearly as easy to cross.

"There are stepping stones along the way. As I said before, thank you. You have our deepest gratitude. Goodbye Kate and Humphrey. If you two are ever in the neighborhood again, feel free to stop by."

"Goodbye."

"Yeah, see ya. Buck, you all should work on your tracking skills. I would hate to have you not be able to smell an intruder's butt even if you were staring at it," Humphrey chuckled.

Buck growled. "Very funny, Omega. You do seem to have a sense of humor. I hope it serves you well." With that, he turned around and left. Savage followed after him.

And so again, Kate and Humphrey continued to travel south towards destinations unknown.

**Thanks for reading. Please review.**


	6. Crystals

**Sorry it took me so long to write this. Thanksgiving break was amazing. Last we saw, Kate and Humphrey were leaving Savage's territory. Now skip ahead few days. **

The further south they went, the warmer the weather became. It was already to the point where both Kate and Humphrey had started sweating profusely.

"You know, maybe we shouldn't go this far south. I haven't seen any trees in several days," Humphrey groaned as they plodded through sand. "All I see are cacti and scrub. This place is not fit for starting a pack."

"I agree. We should probably head back up a little ways. The mountains back there were nice. There was that cave and stream we slept at two nights ago," Kate responded.

"Let's go back up there. At least there we can guarantee that we will have water. This endless sand thing is just absurd."

"Just one problem. I see mountains all the way around us. Which way do we go?"

"Follow our footsteps. They should lead all the way back to the edge of the desert. Then it should be easy to find that cave."

Both of them turned around. As they watched, the wind blew sand in their tracks and obliterated them.

"Well so much for that plan."

They walked in the direction that they had come from. Humphrey started singing goofy songs. Kate playfully told him to shut up. They walked until they came to a deep pit in the sand.

"We had better go around that. We don't want to fall in again."

They skirted the hole and were almost around it when they heard a rumbling groaning sound. Kate watched in horror as the ground under Humphrey buckled and slid towards the center of the pit with Humphrey clinging to the edges. Kate grabbed at his tail but missed it. His chunk of rock slid all the way to the center of the hole and dropped down into a deeper pit.

"Humphrey!" Kate shouted frantically, trying to find a way down without falling in herself. Then she felt herself moving. The ledge she had been standing on broke off the surrounding ground and slid towards the hole. "Look out Humphrey!" she called as she started dropping straight down. She fell for a few seconds, and then hit the ground with a resounding thud. The rock she had been standing on broke apart under her and she rolled off. Pushing herself to her feet, she called out, "Humphrey! Are you in here?"

"Yeah," he called out. "I must have eaten too many cupcakes. Otherwise the rock wouldn't have broken."

They both laughed.

"At least neither of us is hurt."

Humphrey thought for a second. "Hey, that was kind of like surfing on the dead tree."

"It was. If I had known what was at the bottom of the pit I would have had fun."

They looked around. The light coming from the hole in the ceiling above them was enough to show them that this was no ordinary sand pit. To their left there was a cave entrance about ten feet in diameter. They could just see a soft light coming from the space beyond.

"Come on, maybe this is the way out," Kate exclaimed.

As it turned out, it was not the way out. They walked into a room filled with thirty foot long crystals as big around as tree trunks. Both of the wolves' jaws dropped.

"It's so…beautiful," Kate whispered.

"I know," Humphrey breathed.

That was when they noticed the water. Steam rose from the pool that was slowly rising towards their position.

"Um, I don't think that that is a good thing."

"Neither do I."

"Hey look! There's a bridge made of crystal. Maybe it will lead us out."

"Let's follow it."

They jumped up onto the crystal, first Kate and then Humphrey. All the while the water was slowly rising towards them. They traveled quickly along the bridge, glancing down at the rising water every so often. When it was lapping over the top of their crystal bridge, they jumped up onto another crystal. Unfortunately, this crystal was a dead end.

"Crap. Now what?" Humphrey groaned.

"Uh, we die?" Kate asked.

A cracking sound rang out like a cannon shot. They looked down at the crystal they had been using as a bridge. The rising water had broken it from its base on the wall. The split traveled up the side of the crystal and split it in half again. It was hollow and it made a perfect raft.

"Maybe not," Humphrey said. "Remember the dead tree surfing. This will be just like it." With that he jumped down onto the crystal shard.

"I guess," Kate muttered to herself. Humphrey steadied the shard and waited for Kate to jump in.

"Come on. We need to push off now or we'll get stuck under these other crystals."

Kate held her breath and jumped. She landed quite comfortably.

"You know, even though your hot, could you please stop laying on me," Humphrey groaned.

Kate looked down. She had landed right on top of him.

"Oh! I'm sorry."

"It's ok," he said, brushing himself off. He turned around and pushed against a vertical crystal with his hind legs. Their shard raft started moving slowly towards the opening between the teeth of crystal. The water was still rising. They could no longer see the place where they had entered.

The shard raft steered easily. Together, Kate and Humphrey were able to direct it towards the draining hole of the crystal cavern. There was not much space between the water and the top of the hole, but Kate and Humphrey managed to squeeze into the space. Once in the tunnel, the shard raft moved quickly. It drifted down towards destinations unknown.

**Duh duh duuuuuuuuh. Find out what happens in the next chapter. Sorry it has taken me so long to do this. R&R please.**


	7. Falling Home

**To those of you who commented, the reason Humphrey is not being as funny as usual is that he is going through post marital shock. Don't worry its temporary. Once he recovers from the shock of actually being married, he will become his normal self again. Thank you for expressing your concern.**

The shard raft picked up speed. Humphrey could see light that was getting brighter and bigger.

"No, no," he said. "Don't go towards the light."

Kate laughed. "Yes, silly. That's exactly where we want to go."

"I know."

The shard picked up even more speed. The sound of water falling on rock came to their ears from far below.

"Ohhh…" he trailed off. The river ended where the cave ended. The rushing water ended in a waterfall that tumbled down a sheer cliff and landed on a pile of jagged rocks. There were several carcasses of dead desert animals dashed against the rocks. The carcasses were strangely bloodless. The torrent washed everything away from the bodies except the skeletons. Kate grimaced.

Both of them were looking around frantically.

"There!" Kate exclaimed. "Jump onto that ledge on my mark!"

The shard started to dip. "NOW!" They jumped. Kate landed squarely on her feet.

"I believe I can fly!" he yelled as he jumped. He more than made it. He overshot the landing and crashed face first into the cliff wall. "I'm OK," he said through a mouthful of dirt.

Kate laughed. "You should know by now that we can't fly. After all the times we've slid down hills on tree bark sleds and fallen off, you should know you can't fly," she said, rolling on the ground. "Let's get off of this ledge before one of us gets hurt."

Both wolves picked themselves up and walked along the ledge to the side of the rock face and slid down the incline. Once they were at the bottom of the hill, they looked around.

"Hey, doesn't this area look familiar?" Kate asked.

"I don't know what's familiar anymore," Humphrey said. "I'm too woozy from hitting my head. Can I have a cupcake?" he said, sliding to the ground and laying there with his tongue protruding slightly from his mouth.

"Humphrey! Are you OK?" Kate was frantic.

"Yesh. I'm Okayzzz."

"You don't sound like it."

"I knowsh. There's a stream over there. Let me go dunk my head in there."

Kate helped him up and over to the stream. Humphrey submerged his head completely underwater and gulped in a huge mouthful. He came back out the water and sprayed the water back out.

"Ugh. Forgot about the dead animals. They make this taste like something the crows would eat."

"Maybe you should go get some other water."

"I would, but there isn't any other."

Now that the crisis was passed, the two wolves walked along the bank of the stream until it ended in a small pond. The vegetation around it was lush and green. However, there were no fish in the pond. The crystal falls had sufficiently polluted the water enough that there were no animals. The plants thrived off of the natural fertilizer, but the chemicals were not good for aquatic life. The sky above the pond was clear enough for the wolves to be able to see the sky. They continued heading north.

Around evening, Kate and Humphrey came upon a clearing that looked extremely familiar.

"Hey! This is the clearing with the cave we found!" Kate exclaimed.

"Finally, any further and I would have flat feet." Humphrey walked over to the pool and drank deeply. "Ah. Fresh water. Good temperatures and trees. No more of that desert stuff."

They located the cave and went inside. Upon their previous visit, they had not explored it much. It turned out that the cave went fairly far back into the mountain, deep enough to provide shelter for a large pack. There was even a small pool in the middle of the cave. Kate tried the water and found that it was clean and had a quite nice tasted to it.

"This is perfect for starting a pack. Shelter, water, everything," Kate said.

"You forgot food," Humphrey said yawning. "Let's go get a nice big moose when we get up in the morning."

"Sounds good to me."

Kate laid her head on Humphrey's shoulder and drifted into deep slumber. Humphrey lay on the sandy floor and thought. So much had happened in the last week, the biggest being that he had gotten married. With thoughts swirling through his head, he found it hard to go to sleep.

"One. Two. Three," he said as he counted sheep. Finally he buried his nose in Kate's fur and fell asleep.

The next morning, both wolves awoke to find Paddy and Marcel prodding them.

"Well, it's good to see you two," Marcel said to them. "We were just passing through and saw some tracks. We landed outside the cave and saw you two sleeping so peacefully and decided to say hi."

"Are you staying here?" Paddy asked.

"Planning on it. This looked like a good place to start a pack," Kate answered.

"Oh, boy. Puppies. You should have fun with that," Marcel said, elbowing Humphrey in the side.

"Who said anything about puppies?" Humphrey growled playfully.

"Well obviously you will have puppies. You cannot have a pack without puppies."

"True. I don't know. We haven't really thought about it. What do you think Kate? Should we have puppies?"

Kate's eyes lit up. "Yes, yes, yes!"

"Well, that was enthusiastic. I guess we will be. Why don't you two stay here for a while? You can leave occasionally and go tell mom and dad news about us. That way we can still keep in touch," Humphrey said.

"Sounds good to me. I've been wanting to settle down for a while. There is a quite nice tree above this cave. I think we will settle down there," Marcel said.

"Yay. We will have people we know nearby," Kate hugged Marcel.

"If you will excuse us, we need food. It's been awhile since we have eaten."

"Certainly, certainly. Have fun, kids."

Kate and Humphrey walked slowly out of the cave towards the forest. They knew exactly where to find the moose were. They had already seen them.

**Please R&R. BTW, it might be awhile before I update. My Christmas break starts soon, and I will be playing Halo: Reach. Also, to those of you who talked about it being boring because they were still traveling, don't rush me again. I was planning on them settling down in a few chapters, but I'm trying to make you happy. Don't expect me to rush my plans again. I'm felt like giving you this because it's Christmas. OK, I'm babbling. Merry Christmas!**


	8. Settling In

**Hello again. Long time for update, I know. Sorry. Enjoy this chapter.**

Kate and Humphrey took their time in dragging down a moose. Without the need to constantly travel, they no longer had to hurry to do anything. It was about noon when they dragged the carcass into their clearing. Kate took the first bite, then motioned to Humphrey.

"Come on, you helped pull this thing down. You'll be an alpha when we get a pack started, so you won't have to wait to eat. So why don't you start now. I'll teach you the rest of the intricacies of being an alpha so that you'll be ready later. You'll have the double duty of teaching the omegas how to act, but you still need to behave like an alpha. Eat," Kate said.

Humphrey rolled his eyes, then sank his teeth into the juicy meat of the liver. The blood soaked his muzzle up to eyes. "Mmh. Best meat I've ever tasted."

"That's because it's not scraps. Eating's always better when you eat first."

"Mmhmm. No kidding."

In about thirty minutes, the two wolves had devoured the moose's haunch. They left the rest of the carcass out in the clearing. Just then, Marcel and Paddy flew over.

"I see you have gotten lunch. Good hunting?" Marcel asked.

"Yes. Very good. This place is perfect for starting a new pack," Kate responded.

"Good, good. I know that we said we would stay awhile, but we are going to go visit your family and tell them that you have settled down. For all I know, Shakey Salty and Mooch might want to come down here."

Humphrey grinned, his face bloody. "That would be great. Tell them to say they're friends of ours when they pass through Savage's territory."

"Will do. Now, we must be off."

Kate and Humphrey watched as the pair flew northwards.

"Well, let's explore the area around here and figure out where to place out borders," Kate said.

They set off across the clearing and entered the forest. They traveled up a large hill that seemed to have paths running down it. Humphrey noticed several dead trees that seemed to have been hollowed out.

"Sweet. I'll be able to slide down this hill for sure."

Kate smiled.

They continued over the hill and found another stream. Fish were constantly jumping in and out of the water. Stones made a natural bridge across the stream. The two wolves crossed the stream and stepped onto soft, springy green grass. Humphrey rolled over.

"Ah, this feels good." Humphrey rubbed the scent of the grass into his fur and sat up. Kate was lying next to him, apparently enjoying the grass as much as he was. He lay back down and rolled over next to her.

"You're beautiful," Humphrey said.

"You don't look too bad yourself."

Humphrey licked Kate's face. "I'm glad we're together."

"Me too."

They fell into a blissful silence, simply enjoying being together.

An hour or so later, Humphrey rolled over and stood up. Kate had fallen asleep. He prodded her with his forepaw.

"Kate, wake up. We've got to explore some more."

She groaned. "Five more minutes. Please."

Humphrey grinned evilly. "You asked for it." He stepped back. "WOLF PILE!"

Kate opened her eyes just in time to see Humphrey landing on top of her.

"Oof. Crazy. You can't have a wolf pile with only two wolves."

"So it's a miniature wolf pile."

"OK. I'll give you that one." It was her turn to grin evilly. "If that's the case, right back at you."

She jumped, did a summersault in the air, and landed squarely on top of Humphrey.

"I'm used to being at the bottom of the pile, but did you really have to jump so high?"

That was when they heard music.

"Strange. I didn't think that there were any humans nearby," Kate said.

They followed the sound of the music to a small clearing off to the side of the meadow. There were two male humans crouching by a campfire and a third female sitting in a folding chair. The music was coming from a small speaker system that had been set on top of a backpack.

"This song sound familiar?" Humphrey whispered.

"Uh-huh. It's the one that was playing in the truck we rode in on the way home."

"Yep."

Humphrey started tapping his foot to the beat. He was about to start dancing when Kate tapped him on the shoulder.

"Don't. We don't want the humans to know that we're here."

They turned around a trudged back towards the cave. The sun was about halfway through its descent into blackness when they arrived back at the cave. They each ate some more of the moose then went into the cave. The air turned dusky and the first stars started coming out. Humphrey looked out at the sky and was startled to see different stars from the ones he was used to.

"Kate, come 'ere. The stars are different. Look."

She stood there gaping. "Weird. I didn't think that the stars would change. I mean, they're so far up there."

Humphrey pointed. "Look. That group looks kind of like a wolf." He traced the outline with his paw.

"Cool." Kate looked into the heavens and saw movement. A flash of light sparkled across the sky. She thought for a moment, then made a wish, mouthing the words to herself.

"What'd you wish for?" Humphrey asked.

"Can't tell you. I'll tell you if it comes true, but not before. Otherwise it won't come true."

Humphrey kissed her on the top of the head. "I know what you wished for. Your wish will come true. I'm sure of that. You're too amazing for it not to come true."

Kate smiled. "Thanks."

They sat there watching the sky for several hours, eventually falling asleep leaning on each other. Even in her sleep, Kate was still smiling.

**I'm sorry for the loooooooooong update. Christmas break gave way to writer's block. Thanks to animenut09 for reviewing and asking when the next update was. I was discouraged by the lack of reviews lately, but oh well. Here's to the possibility of pups!**


	9. Growing

**New chapter. Yay. This chapter should be interesting.**

The clouds moved in quickly. The sky was a stormy gray threatening a heavy rain when the two wolves awoke. They dragged the moose carcass into the cave to prevent it from getting soggy. Humphrey nosed around the cave, looking for something to get rid of his boredom.

"Hey Kate," he said as he found a pile of loose rubble. "Come over here and help me."

The two wolves dug at the fallen debris until they had made a hole big enough for one of them to get through. Kate looked in.

"Not enough light. Help me move some more."

They kept digging. Finally, they had dug away all the debris. In the space where the fallen rocks had been was a small cave entrance. Inside the cave there were numerous bones of small animals. All of them had little teeth marks in them, as if some sort of animal had gnawed them clean. Kate breathed out harshly when she saw little smudge marks on the wall.

"Humphrey, look." She pointed the smudge marks. "Those are wolf prints. Pups, from the look of it."

"Must have been a nursery or something."

They sniffed around the small room. Other than the bones and prints, there was no evidence of any wolves. The small pocket smelled of disuse and abandonment. All was stone.

The two mates backed out of the cave and carefully piled the rubble back in the doorway.

"No need to keep that open," Humphrey said mournfully.

"I wonder who lived here."

"No telling. Whoever they were are long gone."

Kate nuzzled Humphrey's neck affectionately.

They looked out of the cave entrance as the rain slowly covered the ground. The clearing submerged and the water tipped the grass. As it rose, it slowly drained into the creek. The cave was high enough in the rock face that the two or three inches of standing water were not able to get in. The rain was coming down in sheets that splashed as they hit.

**Meanwhile:**

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

"We're just passing through. Our friends just started a pack and we were going to join."

"That doesn't answer our question. Who are you?"

"I'm Hutch. The two omegas are Salty and Mooch. We're friends of Kate and Humphrey."

"Why didn't you say so? We'll take you to the edge of our territory tomorrow morning. Some goose said they had settled not far from here."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. I'm Buck. We'll give you a place to sleep tonight. For now, let's get out of the rain."

**Back at the cave:**

Kate and Humphrey slept in the cave. The rain made it impossible to stay awake.

The next morning the rain had ended and the water in the clearing had almost completely drained off.

"This is good. It's less likely to flood badly."

Kate looked over at the moose. There was nothing left but scraps.

"We should probably go hunting."

The two wolves set out into the forest and searched for the moose herd that they had found. It took them several hours, but they finally found them on top of a small hill. Water stood around them, penning them in. Kate hid in the tall grass.

"Go around back. Cause a distraction and get them to start moving around. While they're focusing on you and defending the elderly, I will sneak up behind them and pick off one of the older ones."

"OK." Humphrey set off through the trees. A few minutes later, Kate saw birds fly out of the trees. The herd looked up in alarm. All of the weaker members were shuffled to the side nearest Kate. A howl rose out of the darkness of the trees. A bull snorted. Kate crept through the water, keeping just her nose above the surface. When the land started to rise again, she slid onto the dry ground and came up behind a small female. She looked to be one of the oldest, maybe the mate of the bull they had killed two days before. Kate wiggled her haunches, then leaped. Water droplets glistened in the air as she flew. She bit the base of the neck quickly and with precision. The moose sagged. The rest of the herd flinched away from the wolf that was sitting in their midst. Humphrey stormed through the water and right between the legs of the bulls, right up to Kate. "Let's get this thing back home. I feel like I could eat a million cupcakes."

"NO. No cupcakes."

They both laughed. They dragged the moose across the moat and onto dryer pine straw. They were about halfway to the clearing when Humphrey stopped and lifted his head to sniff the air.

"You smell that?"

"Yeah. Smells familiar."

Humphrey turned around. Standing there were Hutch, Salty, and Mooch.

"What're you doing here?"

"We came to join your pack. Looks like you could use some help."

"We need all the help we can get. How's life in Jasper?"

"Good. Shaky is marrying one of the vegetarians, not sure which one. Lilly is pregnant. Tony and Winston have started playing golf. Not much else."

"Sounds good. Ya'll want some food?"

"Humphrey, you've known me your whole life. I always want food," Mooch said.

Humphrey laughed. "Yeah. You're probably the reason why the pack went hungry."

"I wouldn't doubt it."

The five wolves dragged the moose the rest of the way to the clearing. Kate took a bite. Hutch was about to when she stopped him.

"Humphrey is an alpha now. He gets to eat before you," she said.

"Huh, whaaa?"

"He and I founded this pack. He gets to eat before you."

"OK." He turned to Humphrey. "Have at it."

Humphrey ripped off a juicy chunk and sat down next to Kate to eat. The other wolves took their portions and they ate in a circle. Humphrey joked with his friends while Hutch filled Kate in on exactly what was happening back home.

The moon was high in the sky when the five wolves dragged the moose carcass into the cave and went to bed. Kate showed the newcomers their spaces then joined Humphrey in their little nook and went to sleep.

**A few days later:**

Kate woke up before sunrise and went to the moose carcass. She was ravenously hungry. She ripped off a chunk of the meat and chewed it vigorously. She was about to swallow it when she suddenly felt nauseous. Humphrey found her outside heaving her guts out.

"You OK?"

"I don't know what happened. One minute I was hungry the next I felt like puking."

"You did. Puke, I mean. Was it bad meat?"

"No. The meat was good."

"Kate, I think the only explanation is that you're pregnant. You must be having morning sickness."

"No. No way. There is no way I'm pregnant."

"Isn't that what you wished for?"

"Yeah."

"Well, wishes do come true."

"I guess it's not a bad thing. We need more members in the pack. Plus, they're your kids too. This will be fun, raising pups."

"Should we tell the others yet?"

"I don't know. I think we should wait until Marcel and Patty get back. Then we can send them to tell mom."

"You and Lilly are pregnant at the same time. What are the odds?"

"Pretty good apparently." She licked Humphrey's face. "This is an adventure you never expected, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I'm happy though. I can't wait until they're born."

"I know. We have to think of names."

"That shouldn't be hard. But we have to wait for them to be born so we know if they're boys or girls."

"I love you, Humphrey."

"I love you too, Kate."

**Told you the chapter would be interesting. It's also longer than I meant it to be. I know it started kind of gloomy, but bad stuff has been happening to me and it is reflected in my writing. So what do ya'll think of the developments? R&R please!**


	10. New Life

**Hey everyone. Hope you like this chapter. Read and Review, please. Reviews are what keeps me writing. The more reviews I get the faster I will probably write.**

"So, everybody, we have good news. Kate would you like to tell them or should I?"

"You can."

"Alright then. So, the good news is: Kate's pregnant. Marcel, could you and Paddy fly back up and tell Eve?"

"I don't see why not. Come Paddy."

"As for the rest of you, I don't really know what to say other than that she is pregnant. And has been for the last couple of weeks. So, umm, yeah."

The rest of the pack came up and congratulated the couple. There only being three, it didn't take long. Humphrey looked proudly at Kate and smiled.

The pregnancy flew by. The small pack gathered bedding for Kate and made sure she was as comfortable as possible. Her waist grew as the pups inside her grew, and she was fairly large by the time the month was over.

One day, Humphrey and Hutch went hunting, leaving Salty, Marcel, Paddy and Mooch to watch Kate. They had just dragged down a small deer when Paddy landed breathlessly next to them.

"Kate…" he panted. "Having pups…. Come back." He flopped down on the ground. Humphrey put him on his back and sprinted back to the cave, forgetting the deer entirely. The forest flashed by as he ran, his strength built up from the alpha work he now had to do. He skidded to a halt outside the cave, smoothed down his forever messed up fur, and walked inside.

Kate was lying on the bedding, the look on face full of contentment. "Come meet your kids. Two boys and a girl."

The pups lay on the bedding beside Kate. The girl was a blue white color. One boy was pure black, and the other a gray-brown.

"What should we name them?"

"I thought about Emily for the girl. You know, kind of like Lilly?"

"Sounds good. What about the boys?"

"Sean sounds nice."

"OK, and the gray-brown one is Aatu."

Humphrey licked each of the pups.

"They're beautiful. Just like you."

Kate smiled. "And you."

The pups grew quickly. Aatu was the obvious leader of the three, even before they had opened their eyes. He was the strongest and the quickest. When their eyes did open, he was the first to start trying to explore the cave. Mooch lay in the entrance, an impenetrable barrier for the tiny pups. Emily was shy, yet bold. When she was with her brothers, she was a strong, intelligent pup. But when faced with something she was unsure of, she shrunk back from the situation. Sean was just like his father. He goofed off and made everyone laugh.

"Well, I think we know who will be doing what," Humphrey said as he gave each of the pups their first piece of un-chewed meat. The pups scarfed down the meat and demanded more. Humphrey gave them another piece, smaller this time, and sighed. "Man, these three are a handful."

"You haven't been dealing with them all day. They've been constantly trying to climb over Mooch. He's just enjoying being able to sit around."

"How about you go stretch your legs and I'll take care of the pups today?"

"You'd do that? Like I said, they're and handful."

"You remember me as a pup. I know all the tricks. They'll be fine."

"Thank you, Humphrey. I won't take long."

Mooch moved aside just long enough to let Kate slip past.

"You know Humphrey," he said. "You are one lucky dog."

"That's what you've been saying since I got married." Just then, Aatu jumped on his back, snarling.

"Alright, you asked for it!" Humphrey let his legs drop out from under him and plummeted to the ground. Aatu was shaken off. Standing back up and shaking out his fur, he glared at his father.

"Dad, no fair. A moose wouldn't do that."

"You never know. They might. Plus, the rest of your hunting patrol isn't with you."

Aatu turned to his siblings. "Come on guys! I need your help."

Sean turned his golden gaze on Humphrey. "Alright, come over here for a second."

"We need to make a plan," Emily said.

The three pups put their heads together. Finally, Sean dashed straight towards Humphrey. He aborted his rush halfway and kicked up a cloud of dust. When it had settled, Aatu and Emily had disappeared. Humphrey groaned.

"Alright, sneaky. Come on out." He looked around, but the only one he could see was Sean. Suddenly, his legs were pulled out from under him and he fell heavily on his side. "Oof. Ow."

He looked to the side to see Aatu and Emily rolling with laughter on the floor.

"That… That was perfect," Emily said.

"I'll admit, that was good. Warn me before you drop me like that again though." He stretched his hind leg. "That's going to leave a mark. Why don't you three come over here? I have a story to tell you."

"What kind of story?" Sean asked.

"An adventure."

"Who was on the adventure?" Emily queried.

"Your mother and I. This is before we were married. We were kidnapped during the moonlight howl. Kate was supposed to howl with an alpha from another pack. She heard his howl and ran. He wasn't very good at the time. She came to the stream where I was, not realizing I was there. I surprised her and we had an argument. While we were arguing, a human knocked us out and took us to Idaho…"

The three pups looked on in wonder as Humphrey continued his tale. Mooch grinned. Humphrey had told the story the night before his wedding. Even though he had heard it before, he never ceased to be surprised about things.

It was evening when Kate came back, pulling a moose behind her. "I've got dinner!" she called out.

Hutch and Humphrey helped her pull the catch in, and Emily jumped up and down. "Yay. We were starving."

"I could eat the whole thing," Aatu said.

"No you couldn't. You'd fit in its head."

"So. I could still eat it all."

"Both of you, stop fighting or you'll go to bed without supper."

Both the pups quickly shut their mouths.

The pack ate the whole moose. The three pups washed in the pool in the center of the cave. Humphrey and Salty had made a small water fall by piling up gravel and sand to split the pool in half. One half was for drinking, the other for bathing. When the pups were tucked in, Humphrey licked Kate.

"You know, it's so weird to say stuff that our parents said to us when we were little."

"I know. How were they today?"

"I told them the story of our adventure back from Idaho."

"Oh boy. What did they think?"

"They loved it. I'll have to think of other stories to tell them."

"I miss story time."

"So do I. It was always so fun."

Kate yawned. "I know you're tired. I say we go to bed now and wake up a little earlier tomorrow morning. We should take them out into the clearing tomorrow."

"That will be fun…" Humphrey trailed off as he went to sleep.

"Good night, Humphrey." Kate laid her head on Humphrey's shoulder and went to sleep.

**I like this chapter. It turned out rather nicely. Please read and review.**


	11. Sunrise

**I don't know why, but I'm still writing only A&O chapters. My Halo story seems to be stuck. Oh well. Hope you like this chapter. Sorry it's taken so long to update. Please Read and Review. **

"Hey, you. Get up." Humphrey poked his son Aatu.

"Wha? Wha's goin on?" he asked sleepily.

"Time to get up."

By now, the other two had woken up.

"All three of you. I need you in the main room in five minutes. We have a surprise for you."

Aatu, Sean, and Emily immediately perked up and ran into the central part of the cave. Kate was waiting for them.

"Alright you three, I need you to be on your best behavior today. Do exactly as we say."

The siblings looked at each other in confusion. What could be so important?

"Today you are going to go outside for the first time," Humphrey told them.

"Really. You're not just pulling our tails?" Emily asked.

"Yes really. Follow your mother. Do exactly as we say. Outside is a lot more dangerous than this cave."

"We understand."

Mooch moved aside, showing only darkness behind him. Kate led the three pups outside and onto the grass, where she told each of them to sit down. The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon. Emily looked up and saw the sun first.

"What is that?" she asked with wide eyes.

"That, that is the sun," Humphrey said.

"But it's so small. How does it give off so much light?" Sean asked.

"It isn't really that small. It's just really far away."

"Oh. That's cool," Sean said.

The pups continued to watch the sun rise for another thirty minutes or so. When they got bored, Sean leaned around Emily and poked Aatu on the shoulder.

"Hey, Emily, why'd you poke me?" Aatu asked sharply.

"I didn't touch you," she said.

"Yes you did. You were the only one who could have."

"I didn't."

By now, Sean was having a difficult time holding back his laughter. Aatu looked around Emily and saw Sean's grin.

"You. I should have known it was you."

Aatu leaped at Sean, knocking Emily over in the process.

"Hey, watch it!" she said.

Aatu and Sean grappled on top of each other, trying to gain control. Then Sean had an idea. _Aatu may be bigger, but if I can get him over to the stream, I can dunk him._ The pair started slowly to roll towards the pool. Humphrey saw what was going to happen and turned to Salty.

"I see what Sean is going to do. Just like a jokester to think like that."

"Only your son would think of it, dude."

Just then Hutch came into the clearing. He was about to stop the two cubs, but Humphrey cut him off.

"Watch. It may look like Sean's getting beat, but I can see he's going to win soon," he said.

"How? Aatu is pummeling him," Hutch asked.

"Look how close they are to the stream."

"Ah. Smart thinking."

They turned back to the cubs. Sean maneuvered to the point where he would be on top when they hit the water, then shoved Aatu in and jumped on top of him. He held Aatu under for a couple of seconds and then pulled him out. Aatu was spluttering from the ice cold drenching.

"Wha? How? How'd you get me?" he asked.

"I saw that you were just focused on getting me. So I slowly pushed us back towards the stream, and pushed you in," Sean said.

"Really? You're just going to push me in the stream and be done with it?"

"Yeah. I won. You stopped fighting."

Aatu growled and stalked away.

"Aatu, come here," Kate called.

He walked over to her.

"Yes?"

"You need to dry off."

Kate licked the water out of Aatu's fur and then looked at him. "Don't worry about your brother. He got you this time, but you can practice and be better next time. Learn from this. Now go have some fun."

Aatu trotted over to where Sean and Emily were sliding a flat rock back and forth. Emily shot it under Sean and into the grass.

"Point for me," she said.

Sean pulled it out of the grass and shot it back at her. She blocked it with her back paw and flipped over Sean's head. He leaned backwards to catch it and missed, landing on his back.

"Ow. Another point for you," he said.

"Can I play?" Aatu asked.

"Yeah. Sean, move over that way so we can form a triangle," Emily instructed.

The wolves flipped the stone back and forth, occasionally scoring points against one another. It was past noon when they tired of their game and walked back to the cave to cool off. Emily carried the rock with her.

The whole pack lay around lazily, enjoying the sun warmed rocks at the mouth of the cave. Kate's ears pricked as she heard rustling in the bushes. She, Hutch, and Humphrey sat up as a large wolf skidded to a halt in the clearing. It was Buck.

"Thank god I found you," he said.

"What is it?" Humphrey asked.

"Humans. They've moved into our territory practically right on top of our camp. Can we stay here until they leave? They're just in those temporary things.

"Humans only stay in those things for about a week max, so yeah, your pack can stay here," Kate responded.

"Thanks. I'll go tell Savage."

He ran off again, leaving churned up grass in his wake.

"This should be interesting," Humphrey muttered.

**Like I said, sorry for the long update. Lot has happened in the last month. Hope you like it. Please read and review. Reviews are why I keep writing, so the more reviews (constructive, mind you) I get, the faster I will try to write.**


	12. Friends?

**Sorry it's taken a while to update. More bad stuff happened to my family (AAGGHH!) Third thing. Bad things happen in threes, so I hope we're done. I love where this story is going. I hope you like it. Please R&R.**

Buck walked into the camp leading his pack. Savage was right behind him.

"Thank you for agreeing to shelter us for the time being," Savage said.

"No problem. You took care of us. Now it's our turn to return the favor," Kate answered.

"Nevertheless, I thank you. Also, where will we be staying?"

"You think the cave will be big enough?" Humphrey muttered to Kate.

"I don't see why not."

"Alright." Humphrey turned to Savage. "You can stay in the cave with us."

Savage glanced at his pack. "You think we'll all fit?"

"You haven't seen our cave," Humphrey chuckled.

Humphrey led the two packs into the cave. He motioned to the tunnels around the room. "We haven't explored these yet, but they should provide good sleeping areas. We should probably explore further back and find out where they lead first. Buck, Rowel, Savage? Do you want to explore the caves with me and Kate?"

"Sure," Savage said. "That'd be great."

The five wolves went into the first branch. It got narrower and narrower until it was just a crack.

"Well that isn't any help," Humphrey muttered.

The next of the five branches opened up into a small cavern with a flat sandy floor. A few cracks in the ceiling let in fresh air and a small trickle of water. Humphrey sniffed it.

"Doesn't smell bad." He lapped some up. "Doesn't taste bad either. I think that this will be good for at least one room. How many of your wolves will fit in here?" he asked Savage.

"Seven or eight."

"How many are in your pack?"

"Fifteen."

"So about half fit in here."

"Yeah."

"How many pups?"

"Four."

Humphrey looked at Kate. "You think the kids would mind sharing their room? There's enough room for them all."

"They can deal," she laughed.

"Alright. So, that's twelve. Three of you can fit in the entrance to this cave, right?"

"Yeah."

"So for now, there is no point in exploring the other caves. We'll do that later."

"OK."

The exploration team walked back up the tunnel. Kate brushed Humphrey's shoulder. She whispered in his ear, "The kids will have someone else to play with now."

Humphrey laughed. "How much you wanna bet that Sean will get one of them with the trick he pulled on Aatu?"

"More than likely. Hey, I'll go tell the kids to make room for the others."

"Alright. See ya."

Kate trotted out of the cave towards where Aatu, Sean, and Emily were talking to the new pups.

"I'm Ashley," said the biggest of the pups. She was about half Kate's size, but double Aatu's size, with a spiky black mane and dark gray fur. Her eyes were a deep green.

"I'm Razor," said the biggest of the males. He was only a couple of millimeters shorter than Ashley, with a shorter version of her hair cut. His mane was gray, and his fur was a white color. His eyes were the deepest gold that Kate had ever seen.

"And I'm Sierra." She was a smaller version of Ashley, except that her eyes were sky blue.

"My name is Fang," said the smallest of the pups. He was a little smaller than Aatu, with a shaggy gray mane and fur a shade lighter.

"We're Aatu, Sean, and Emily," said Aatu, pointing to each of them in turn.

"Nice to meet you," said Sierra.

"Sorry to interrupt, guys, but I need your attention," Kate said.

The pups turned.

"Aatu, Sean, Emily, I need you to go make some more room in your hollow. These guys will be staying in there with you."

"Alright!" Fang said, punching Sean's paw.

"We'll help out," Sierra told Kate.

The seven pups ran off towards the cave, occasionally tripping over each other as they went. Humphrey sidestepped them just in time to keep from being knocked over.

"Well aren't they enthusiastic," he said to Kate as he walked out.

"They'll calm down eventually."

"I hope so," said Salty. He was laying on a rock that overlooked the stream. "I don't ever get a time to relax anymore. They're just running all over the place. Reminds me of us, Humphrey."

"I know. But did we really have that much energy?"

"Yeah. Remember the logs?"

"Oh yeah, definitely. We have some more of them in this place too. I'll show them to you later."

"Sweet."

Kate looked in the cave.

"Looks like they're all hitting it off wonderfully. I think Sean has a crush on Sierra."

"Oh boy, more romance," Humphrey laughed.

"You say that like romance is a bad thing," Kate huffed.

"No, but aren't they a bit young?"

"I guess. Well, I'll go get Savage's pack settled. You two just hang out."

"Alright. Good luck!" Humphrey said.

**Sorry for the long update. As aforementioned, a lot of stuff has happened to me and my family lately. Will try to update again soon. Please R&R.**


	13. Fox

**Ye gods, it's taken me forever to do this. I'm sorry. Life is happening. Whether I want it to or not. Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

"So, do ya'll wanna play?" Sean asked the other wolves.

"How do you play?" Ashley asked.

"Well, since there are seven us, we can't play it normally. We'll split into teams. Fang, come over here. I know that it's uneven, but most of you are bigger than us, so that makes up for it. This area with really short grass is the field. The tall grass on these two sides is the two scoring areas." Emily pointed to the spots as she spoke. "You slide this rock around. First team to 20 points wins."

"Sounds easy enough," Razor said. "Doesn't sound hard."

The game commenced. Emily started off, shooting the little flat rock across the field. Razor was just able to block it.

"OK, maybe not so easy," he grunted.

He fired it back. Sean tapped it with his paw and stopped it. Flipping it up with his paw, he kicked it over their heads and into the grass on the other side.

"No fair! You didn't say we could do that!" Sierra yelled.

"Didn't say you couldn't," Aatu yelled back.

The game intensified. The rock whizzed around, propelled by the pups' determination and frustration. Twenty minutes later, the score was 16-12, in favor of Sean's team. Ashley knocked the rock skyward. Razor launched Sierra up after it. She smashed the rock downwards, straight towards the goal. Aatu dived out of the way as the rock cut a swath through the grass.

"Impressive. Were you trying to kill me?"

"No. I just knew you would dive out of the way," Sierra said.

The rock came back into play. Sean jumped on top of it and balanced there, while Emily fired it back across the field. Razor tried to block Sean, but Sean fired the rock under him and into the goal.

The rest of the game went quickly. Aatu scored the last three points, barreling down the field after the rock, knocking everyone else aside.

"Good game," Sean said as they rinsed off in the creek. "Impressive for first timers."

"Thanks. You guys have played a bunch, haven't you?" Sierra asked.

"Only a few days."

"It was still really good," she said, sliding closer to him. In the water, her dark gray fur looked silvery. "You'll have to teach me some of those moves."

"Sure…" he was interrupted by a howl. Rowel rushed into the clearing.

"Buck got attacked by a fox! I think there might be something wrong with his leg."

Severity, Kate, and Hutch ran over to him. "Show us where he is," Kate instructed.

The four wolves rushed out of the clearing. The remaining wolves looked at each other in alarm. A fox that attacked a wolf as big as Buck had to have something wrong with it.

Around thirty minutes later, the rescuing party came back into the clearing, with Kate and Rowel supporting Buck. They lay him down in the cave on a bed of sand and grass. Savage came over and looked at his leg.

"It's not good, but it could be worse. Did you catch the fox that did this?"

"Yes," Kate said. "It was in its hole. Apparently Buck got too close. I guess that's the reason for the attack."

"I would assume so. Go get some water for him. We need to wash off his leg."

"Alright. Hutch, can you do that?"

Hutch gave a sharp nod and dashed out of the cave.

Buck moaned.

"It'll be OK. You'll be fine," Severity whispered to him.

"Dirty… rotten… fox," he growled. "I'm gunna rip it ap…" He was interrupted by a spasm of pain.

"Relax. We took care of it already. It won't be back, ever," Severity told him. "It and its family are gone."

Kate looked at the rest of the wolves assembled there. "This is no reason to sit around. Rowel, Twister, Humphrey, Hutch, and I will go hunting." She left the cave to assemble her hunt group. She muttered to Hutch as he was coming back from the creek with water.

A few hours later, the two packs sat in the clearing, munching on freshly caught moose. The hunt group had caught two to make sure that both packs had enough to eat. Even Buck had mustered the strength to come out and eat with everyone else.

The pups sat together in a ring, enjoying the haunch muscle from one of the moose. When they finished, Aatu started gnawing on the bone. He cut grooves into its sides until it looked like a stick instead of a bone. The rest of the pups lay on the ground around him, watching lazily. Kate came over to them.

"You all need to go to sleep. You've had a busy day."

"Yes mum."

The pups trudged into the cave. They talked for a few minutes, then went to sleep.

**Sorry for the looong update. Got grounded. Sorry.**


	14. Race

**Trying to make up for lost time. I need to write some more.**

Three days had passed since the fox attack. Savage occasionally sent scouts to check on the human encroachment. Meanwhile, Sean and Sierra were becoming closer. It was nearly impossible to separate them. Razor sat off to himself, watching the other pups playing. He was becoming more and more powerful. He was already as big as Hutch. Salty hung out with the pups, entertaining them with his antics.

The day before Savage's pack was supposed to go home, Humphrey called Mooch, Salty, and Kate aside.

"I say we go ahead and have some fun. Get everyone together. We're going to the hill."

The wolves split up, telling everyone to come to the clearing. When they were assembled, Humphrey spoke.

"I had an idea. Since we have food for the next couple of days, I think we should all have some fun. First, I need everyone to get into groups of four. Mooch, Salty, and I will be interspersed throughout. Then I want everyone to follow me. When we get to a specific spot, I'll tell you what to do next."

The wolves split up. Salty got with Sean, Sierra, and Fang. Humphrey grouped with Aatu, Emily, and Razor. Kate, Buck, Hutch, and Ashley grouped up. Hutch, Mooch, Buck, and Rowel grouped together, and so on. The groups walked across the territory to the giant hill. Humphrey led them all to the top and, with the help of Mooch and Salty, broke down a hollow, dead tree and broke it in half.

"Aatu, Emily, Razor, I want you three to come over here. Razor, since you are the biggest, I want you to sit in the back. You'll provide jump power. Aatu, you need to sit in front of him. You will provide wind draft. Emily, you are copilot. You sit right behind me. I'm in front. Everyone else, I want you to figure out who goes where. Watch us first."

The four wolves mounted up, the younger looking apprehensively at Humphrey.

"LAUNCH!"

The group pushed off. The log slid down the hill. As they approached a rock, Humphrey yelled, "90 degrees right!" They turned to the side and zipped past the hazard. "Aatu, stand up on your hind legs! Provide some drag!"

"Yes, sir!"

Aatu stood up, wobbled, and fell on his butt.

"Try again," Humphrey instructed.

Aatu tentatively stood up again, this time bracing himself to avoid falling. The wind whipped through his fur.

"Sit back down. Razor, hit the ground…NOW!"

Razor smashed his muscular shoulder into the ground, sending the log sled flying up into the air. They landed with a thud on top of a rock ridge. At the end of the ridge, they flew off and splashed down in the creek.

"Woohoo! That was awesome!" Aatu yelled.

Emily shook herself dry. "That was pretty fun."

"No kidding," Razor said, licking his shoulder. "Just no more smashing my shoulder like that. Got to find a new way to do that jump thing."

The team walked back up the hill.

"You've all seen how we did it. Now it's your turn. Break down a hollow dead tree and split it. Go down the hill. Try racing, two logs starting side by side. Just have fun," Humphrey said.

Aatu and Razor were already breaking down another log, ready to go again.

"I say we race Salty and his team," Aatu said.

"Good idea," Humphrey said mischievously. He walked over to Salty. "What do you say our teams race. Take a rundown first, just to get a feel for it and give your team some experience. Then come up and we'll race."

"You're on, man."

Salty took his team down the hill next. When they came back up, the two log sleds were side by side, ready to race. Kate came over to start the race. The two teams lined up.

"Ready, mount, RACE!" she said.

The two teams shot down the hill. Sierra immediately slammed her hind legs into the ground and shot her team's log high into the air. They came down right in front of Humphrey's team. Humphrey, Emily, Aatu, and Razor all hunched down and shot forward, edging around Salty's team. The logs came up side by side. Razor slammed his shoulder again, sending them flying into the air and sending dust and rock particles up into the air. Salty's team spun out of control as they choked on the dust. Humphrey's team shot forward, Aatu standing up at the last second to slow them down before they hit the creek. They jumped out just before splash down. Salty's team rolled down the rest of hill and land in the creek.

"Man, what was that?" he said.

Razor shook the dust out of his fur and looked over at Sierra. "Sorry, but I had to make sure we would win."

"It's ok. I challenge you to a rematch."

"Not before the other groups go. They have to get a chance, too," Humphrey said.

"Ok. We'll wait."

"Man, Humphrey. Did you really have to teach him to slam that hard? One of us could have gotten hurt."

"I know. I'll talk to him about it. We need to find another place to do it. This course is too short."

"You ain't kiddin'."

Meanwhile, the other groups were just finishing up. Kate walked up to Humphrey.

"I think we should probably take a break from all this. It's getting kind of late."

"Good idea. Come on, Salty. Help me gather everyone up. We need to clear the logs out of the creek. Shouldn't be too hard."

"Alright. I'll get Rowel to help get the other pack's members to help out too," Kate said.

They cleaned up the mess quickly and went back to the cave. No one noticed the strange wolf that lurked in the shadows cast by the fading sun. No one saw him grin evilly.

**Finally got this chapter written. Here you go.**


	15. Fenrisulfer

**I am writing this chapter from a basement in the middle of zombie ridden countryside. Well not really, but school counts, doesn't it? Hope you like this chapter.**

The wind stirred the leaves outside the cave. A shape slid silently through the grass, pausing before entering the cave. Savage lay in the entrance to the cave system, sleeping. The shape leaned over him, and stuck. He went for the chest first, determined to cause as much damage as possible. Savage lashed out in his sleep, smashing a blow in the shape's face. It dove for his throat. He gained enough consciousness to jump up and clobber the shape. It retreated back into the night. Savage sounded the alarm.

Buck, Rowel and Twister ran to their leader.

"Are you OK?" they asked urgently.

Savage groaned. "Not completely." He motioned to his chest, where blood was flowing from a deep bite mark. They cleaned the wound and examined the mark.

"Savage, you're going to want to look at this bite mark," Buck said.

"Why?"

"Just look."

Savage glanced down at the mark. "That bite pattern. There's no way. Go warn Kate and Humphrey. Tell them about this danger. I never thought my brother would try something this bold. He shall pay."

Buck ran to get Kate and Humphrey, while Twister woke everyone up to start a hunt for the attacker. He split the alphas into three groups of three. Kate, Hutch, and Buck were in one group. Humphrey, Twister, and Severity were in the second. Rowel, Ashley, and Aatu were in third.

"Now, Rowel, I want your group to be reconnaissance. If you find this wolf, send a runner to the cave. The omegas will act as runners between the groups if a howl cannot be heard or is not acknowledged," Kate instructed. "Now GO!"

The three groups split up and ran into the woods. Kate's group was the first to pick up the scent. Buck howled. One howl came from their left, another from the right. The other parties had heard. They met up a little ways further up the scent trail. The party fanned out to check for more scent. They quickly picked up the trail and followed the scent to the edge of the territory. The intruder had not been careful in where he stepped. Paw prints shone brightly in the puddles of mud. The moon was setting when they stopped outside Savage's pack's territory.

"Should we continue?" Kate asked.

"We must find out what he wants in our territory," Severity told her. "Let's go."

The party sprinted across the territory. The scent trail led straight towards the camp. As they approached the camp, more wolf scents filled the air. It seemed as if a new pack had moved into the territory. The party looked down into the hollow to see several mangy looking wolves skulking about, sniffing at everything. They were obviously underfed, and all of them had an evil look in their eye. In the very center of them all, stood a huge wolf. His eyes glowed with a cruel intelligence, and his fangs flashed in the rising of the sun. One fang was bent backwards slightly, making two teeth look like a bigger one. The other canine was much longer than it should have been. The look would have been comical, had it not been for the blood that stained his muzzle and chunks of flesh that hung from his teeth.

"That's him," Severity hissed. "That's Savage's brother. Ashley, Aatu, go tell the others. I want a full battle force here on the double."

The two younger wolves high tailed it out of the territory. Severity turned to the others.

"Savage's brother was never right in the head. He always had a sick, twisted pleasure in killing another creature. He almost killed Savage on several occasions. His parents always stopped him. But whenever someone suggested that we banish him, they said that there was nothing wrong with him. When he actually killed their youngest brother, his parents saw what they must do. They banished him and took his name from him. Last we heard, he had renamed himself Fenrisulfer, or Hell wolf. We thought that he had run off and started his own pack, and I guess he has, except that he tried to retake the territory. When he saw we weren't here, I guess he decided to move right in. When the battle group gets here, we're going to storm him. I know that we try not to kill in a fight, but this time, it's different. Every single one of those wolves down there must be killed. They have been turned and are completely evil. They are no longer wolves. They are monsters."

The other wolves who had not heard the story before were shocked. They knew that they needed to help out in this battle, but a wolf that evil was hard to imagine, even with it being right below them.

**Aatu and Ashley:**

Aatu and Ashley skidded into camp. Ashley howled for a brief second. The rest of Savage's pack ran outside. Ashley told them what Severity had said.

"We need a full battle group at the old camp now. Fenrisulfer has taken our camp in our absence. His group isn't big, but it's big enough to be a problem. All of you go now. We'll stay here and keep watch. Go."

Savage's pack rushed out of the clearing towards their camp. They may have been run out, but it was still their home, and they would fight for it.

**I'm sorry for the long wait. I've had a pretty severe of writer's block coupled with finals and tests, plus other stuff. Read it fast, for the zombies are coming! Just kidding, but leave a review!**


	16. Battle Royale

**Trying to make up for lost time. I'm trying to get a couple more chapters out during summer, even though summer is never a good time for focus. It'll be kind of slo…AGH! ZOMBAYES!**

Savage's pack ran through the forest, heading straight for the border. They knew what they must do. They had to drive every last one of Fenrisulfer's pack out. Even if they didn't kill them, they had to teach them all a lesson.

They were about a mile from the camp when they saw Kate. She motioned for them to stop.

"We're planning a strike from three sides. But from here on, everyone must be quiet. The signal will be given by the omegas. The two smaller groups will attack from two sides. Then the bigger group will swoop in during the confusion and cause as much damage as possible. I'll let Severity explain the rest when we get closer."

The pack closed in. Severity met them outside the camp.

"I want you to be two group of four and a group of six. Aatu, Ashley, I want you two to be runners. When I give the signal, you two will run to the other groups. You run at about the same speed, so the attack should happen at the same time. As soon as they go, run back to the main group. We'll attack once you get back. Got it?"

They nodded.

"Ok. You guys, group of four." She turned to the others in her pack. "You're the other group of four. Buck, Rowel, Twister, Kate, Humphrey, and I are the big group. Now, groups one and two, go over to the sides of the camp. We'll send Aatu and Ashley out in a couple of minutes."

The wolves signaled that they understood and split up. They snuck off into the darkness, taking care to be extremely quiet. They soon faded into the night.

"Alright you two, go now." Aatu and Ashley ran off after the other groups. Their light bodies allowed them to skip over the small twigs and underbrush. They too soon disappeared.

A few minutes later, they both came flying back. "They've entered. Time to go," Aatu said.

"Thank you kids. I want you to stay out here. You'll only get hurt if you go in."

Ashley started to protest, but her mom stopped her. "Just listen to me for once."

"Ok."

"Now, let's go," she said, turning to her group." The six wolves ran through the entrance of the camp, barreling towards the melee. The middle of the camp was a scene of chaos. Teeth flashed and fur flew as wolves fought each other. Kate jumped on top of a large wolf that was just a bit smaller than Fenrisulfer. Humphrey darted under him and bit his hind legs. He darted out from under just as the wolf started to fall. Kate jumped off in a way that forced the wolf onto its injured back legs. It yelped in pain and stumbled out of the clearing.

Rowel, Buck, and Twister fought back to back, covering each other. No one could get through them. Severity went straight for Fenrisulfer, who was sitting on a rock overlooking the maelstrom. He looked up just in time to see her smash into him and knock him to the ground. He was at least twice her size, and his fur stunk of rotten things. She gagged as she drove in towards his throat. Right before her teeth connected, two other wolves knocked her away. She growled and snapped at them, but it was too late. Fenrisulfer was rushing towards the entrance to the camp.

Meanwhile, Kate and Humphrey were pinned down against a rock face, with four wolves blocking them from escape. Humphrey stood slightly in front of Kate.

"I swore to be by your side for the rest of our lives. I don't plan on having you die before me," he told her.

"Then we will fight together. I'm not letting you die either."

The two wolves rushed towards the biggest wolf. As soon as they moved, three of the wolves moved towards the smallest wolf, away from Kate and Humphrey.

"Wait, what?" the small one asked. "Why'd you run from them? You went the wrong way. Kate and Humphrey dashed towards one of the battle groups. The other wolves growled.

"We'll still get you. You won't be able to hold out for long."

Severity dashed towards the camp entrance after Fenrisulfer. Fenrisulfer scooped up Aatu as he ran past. He turned towards Severity.

"Take one more step and your pup here gets it," he growled. His voice sounded like someone had put diamonds in a blender mixed with thunder clapping.

"He's not my pup. But if you hurt him, I'll act like he is. Put him down, or I will personally tear you into little bitty pieces and feed you to the rest of your pack, or at least those who somehow manage to survive the attack."

Fenrisulfer laughed. "You really think that you'll kill me before I kill this pathetic little scrap? All I have to do bite down his neck will snap. There is absolutely nothing that you could possibly do to stop me."

"Let me go!" Aatu yelled.

"Now why would I do that? Then I would lose the advantage."

"Fine by me. You're going to die either way."

Fenrisulfer dropped Aatu on the ground and slashed out with his fangs. The cut deeply, covering Aatu's face in blood. Severity jumped, letting out something that sounded more like a roar than anything else. Fenrisulfer batted her away.

"Like I said, you can't stop me. Now you'll have to watch as I slowly kill this scrap."

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Kate screamed as she barreled into Fenrisulfer. Her fangs bit deeply into his side, easily puncturing the skin and tearing through muscle, straight into the bone. Fenrisulfer only growled. Humphrey was right behind her, smashing into Fenrisulfer's face and breaking his jaw. Fenrisulfer backed off, streaming blood and staggering to keep his balance.

"I WILL have my revenge. You will regret your insolence. I am the rightful leader of the pack. Don't you forget it," he said as he ran into the forest.

Kate and Humphrey ran over to Aatu. He lay on the ground, moaning from the pain in his face.

**Ending the chapter here. Don't get mad. I will write more. Have fun.**


	17. Plans

**A long awaited chapter. I know it's been awhile. I know the last chapter was somewhat of a cliffhanger. Sorry for the wait. Life's been flying at me the last couple months. So here we go.**

Kate licked Aatu's face, cleaning away the blood. Severity came over.

"Let me look at it. We're used to battle wounds, and we know how to treat them."

Kate nodded. "Ok," she said weakly.

"It isn't horribly deep, but it is still pretty bad. We need to get this cleaned off. Can you two carry him to the stream?"

Kate and Humphrey nodded. Together they dragged their unconscious son to the stream, where Severity proceeded to gently clean his face off. The wounds ran fairly deep, but not deep enough to maim him permanently.

"He needs rest. And he'll have to eat little bits of food, no big hunks for a while, but he will recover."

Kate and Humphrey breathed in relief. "We should probably get everyone back to the cave. We need to make sure no one else is too terribly injured," Kate said.

"Agreed. I will get the others. You two can go ahead and take Aatu back. We will all catch up. We're going to post a few wolves here to make sure no one tries to move in again."

"Got it." Severity gently lifted Aatu onto Kate's back. Humphrey got on one side to keep him from falling. Hutch ran up and got on the other side. Together, the three carried Aatu back to the cave, the rest of the two packs trailing behind, weary and worn out, but alive.

**A day later:**

Aatu woke to an burning sensation all over his face. He groaned.

"Moooom! He's awake now!" Emily yelled. She said in a softer tone, "Thank goodness. You had us scared there."

"Wha happene?" His voice was slurred from the injuries.

"Don't talk," Kate told him. "You have to let your face heal."

"Wha?"

"You were so brave, honey. Standing up to that beast. I'm so thankful you're alive."

"Hmmm. M hugreh."

"Emily, go get him a small piece of meat. Remember, about this size," she said, showing Emily with her paws.

"Yes mam."

**Another week later:**

Aatu walked out of the cave for the first time since the raid. He felt the stiffness in his limbs from the long hours of sitting and doing nothing. Sean tackled him.

"Good to see you in the land of the living," Sean said.

"Good to be here." He noticed Ashley staring at him; the other pack hadn't seen him since the raid either. He walked up to her.

"What is it? You're giving me a strange look."

"Go look in the pool."

Aatu walked warily over to the pool. He saw his reflection and jumped, startled by the marks on his face. The brown fur on his face now had silver streaks in it, where Fenrisulfer had slashed him.

"Wow. Was it really that bad?" he asked.

"Yeah. At first we thought Fenrisulfer had killed you. The only reason you're alive is because Severity is amazing at treating battle wounds. You're still in training, and already you have battle scars. Very nice," Humphrey said.

"It looks good," Ashley told him. "Makes you look stronger."

"Thanks," Aatu responded, not noticing the look between their parents.

Razor and Fang came up. "Dude," Razor said, "That looks freakin' beast. You're all hardcore now."

"Man. Does it hurt?" Fang asked.

"Not really. It hurt a lot more when I first woke up."

"I'd imagine."

Just then, Savage walked over. "Aatu, would please come with me for a few seconds? I need to talk to you."

"Ok," Aatu said, looking confused.

"I have to thank you for your bravery. I know you weren't actually in the fight, but the fact that you stood up against my younger brother is impressive nevertheless."

"Not like I had much of a choice."

"I know. I'm sorry about that."

"Sall right."

"Good. Now. I have another subject talk to you about."

"Yes sir?"

"Now correct me if I am wrong, but I believe you have a thing for my daughter, Ashley."

Aatu stuck his tail between his legs, embarrassed. "Is it that obvious?"

"Not to her. The adults realize it, but then again most of us already have mates and know what to look for to see if a wolf likes another wolf. Now, before you say another word, I just want you to know that you have my approval. Out of all the wolves in either of our packs, I think that you would be the best for her."

Aatu was once again shocked. "Umm, thank you."

"I know you know she's strong willed. I think that the two of you will one day make wonderful leaders. Just don't blow it. She's also a pretty dangerous wolf to have as your opponent."

"I know."

"I know you know. I'm just recertifying that. Now, when the others ask what we were talking about, you have the good sense to know to just talk about me thanking you, right?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Now go play. You deserve it."

As Aatu ran off, Humphrey walked up.

"So what'd he say?"

"He understands, I think. You have a remarkable son, Humphrey. You and Kate did well with him. I know that it's a little early to be talking about this, but I would like to participate in his Alpha schooling when the time comes, if that is ok with you."

"Of course. We need more help with that. As it stands, we're planning on taking him up near our old pack's territory to meet them. Bring your children that you think are ready too. The more new Alphas, the better."

"Good. We will. So do you know what you want to do to test your children before they go to Alpha School?"

"I have an idea…"

**So long since an update. I am greatly sorry. I'm working on my driver's license, school, band, and a thousand other things at the same time.**


	18. Training

**Ok. I know it's been forfreakingever since the last time I posted. I'm sorry. Life throws you curves, and if you get hit, it hurts.**

Humphrey stood in front of his pack, looking proudly at his pups. "Today is a very important day," he said. "Today, some of you will be tested to see if you are worthy enough to go to Alpha school."

His pups gasped. "Already?" they asked.

"Yes, already. You and your friends from Savage's pack are now old enough, and the time of year is right for us to start. It'll be a long journey, but it'll be worth it. We are going to go visit our family up in Jasper. The alphas there will train you over the winter, and then we'll come back and get you afterwards."

"You aren't staying with us?" Emily sounded hurt.

"We can't. We have to stay away so that you learn not to rely on us," Kate said. "We wish we could stay with you, believe me we do."

Aatu looked mischievous. "So there won't be adults telling us what to do?"

"Just the opposite. There will be adults who are much stricter than us telling you what to do. They'll tell you when to do everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. When I was in Alpha School, it was fun, but it was really hard," Kate told him.

Savage spoke up. "But first you have to pass a test to see if you can go be trained to be an alpha. We've prepared a small den site a good ways from here. You will have to stay there and act as a smaller pack without the adults. We have already chosen who will be in what positions on each day. If you succeed in staying there a week, you will be able to go to alpha school. But there is to be no playing around. You have to all act like alphas the whole time. If you are caught acting differently, your peers are to drive you from the 'pack' and back here to us."

If Sean had not had fur, he would have been pure white. This was going to be hard; he knew that for a fact. He had always goofed off and played around. A whole week of acting serious? He wasn't sure he could do it.

Aatu sat there confidently. He knew he could do it. He was always serious and ready to work. The work would just be a little harder this time. This would be a cake walk.

Emily looked around. She hoped that everyone get along well enough to survive the week without any mishaps. She really hoped that no one would get hurt.

Ashley, Razor, Fang, and Sierra looked at each other and nodded. Sierra and Fang stepped forward. Sierra spoke. "We would like to go ahead and drop out of this competition. We know we want to be omegas. There is no reason for us to try if we don't want the reward."

The adults nodded. "Smart thinking. Is there anyone else who wants to be an omega?"

No one stepped forward. Sean stood there thinking. If he became an alpha, he wouldn't be able to be Sierra's mate. Should he choose love or power? Humphrey could see the wheels turning in his head.

"You alright?" he asked his son.

"Yeah, just trying to make a hard choice."

"The girl or the job?"

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"Kind of obvious. You're all ready to go try to be an alpha, then Sierra drops out of the race and you get that look on your face like 'oh crap.'"

"Am I that see through?"

"No. I just know my kids well. I don't think anyone else noticed."

Sean breathed a sigh of relief.

"So which is it going to be?" Humphrey asked.

"I'm going to try and be an alpha. There's no guarantee that I make it, but if I don't try and Sierra turns me down I've failed doubly."

Humphrey licked the top of his head. "That's my boy." He stepped back so that he could talk to all the pups that were going to participate in the test. "Now, you all leave when the sun reaches the top of the sky. If you are not gone soon after that, you will be disqualified from the running. You may or may not be able to try again next year, it all depends."

The pups nodded. They knew that they were ready.

"Are there any questions?" Hutch asked. When none were given, he continued. "There is an extremely obvious scent trail to the other camp. It starts about a mile from this camp. You must be in the camp by night fall. We well treat you as a rival pack. If you get into a fight with one of us, do not go for a killing blow as if you were really going to do it. Immobilize the enemy and force him or her to surrender. They will have instructions to surrender if you put up a good fight. If you are 'killed' during the week, we will mark a tally. You have three tries. If you 'die' three times, you are disqualified for the year. Everyone must border patrol and hunt. We expect at least one kill from the five of you together. All it has to be is a calf. Other kills will be counted, but not as heavily as the killing of a calf or bigger. We will be watching you all week. You won't necessarily see us, but we will be there, the whole time. If something happens that is life threatening, and we don't come to help, yip three times as loud as you can. The rest of you make sure the sound gets to us. Does everyone understand?"

"Yes sir," the trainees said. "We're ready."

"Good. You have until the sun is all the way up to prepare. After that, good luck, and don't you dare take from our food pile."

**It's been a LONG time I know, but here's another chapter, no matter how late it is. This story will continue.**


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